To think this is ignorant re HIV

[50shadesofmeh]

I heard the radio news broadcast earlier today and an alarmist story about a Dentist who was practicing with HIV and felt a bit upset by the assumption that HIV could somehow be passed easily between a dentist and patient, im annoyed at the bbc for reprting this .

m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-23754254

Without gloves, I'm a nurse and don't even brush someone's hair without gloves on.

How is it a prejudice? Lots of people have to give up their jobs when their health interferes with their ability to perform. This is no different.

Because many people live with HIV for a number of years they aren't always obviously ill to an outsider.
Anyway I'm not saying someone with HIV should just carry on providing the same healthcare they always did I just didn't like the way this story was announced singling this individual out as if he had put people at risk.

On mulling this over the only risky procedure that could possibly transmit HIV is if the dentist it health care provider had a needlestick injury and proceeded to use the same needle on a patient.

Assuming the dentist is on medication which he more than likely will be then the chances are very slim to pass it on. The medication reduces the virus in the blood stream. Of course, as soon as you stop the medication then the virus starts reproducing again as it lays dormant in muscle etc...if you have cuts in your mouth then the dentist would have to be using bare hands with his fresh blood on them (the virus is very fragile and doesn't survive outside the body, hence why catching it any other way other than sex and needle sharing is rare). Even then, with him on meds the chances would be very slim.
If a couple want to conceive and one of them is positive then nowadays as longs they have been undetectable for over 6 months they can conceive naturally but doctors do recommend that they use condoms any other time. You can give birth naturally as longs as you're undetectable and the baby will be negative if straightforward.
People actually don't realise how hard it is to catch HIV, in fact there's been many cases where a person's been diagnosed as HIV positive and their partner of many years will come back as negative.
Sorry about the jumbled up post I'm trying to put everything down and keep an eye on my toddler.

Lusty I'd have asked the orthodontist to wear gloves, never mind what conditions they may or may not have, the idea of someone sticking ungloved hands in my mouth is gross and a little unhygeinic.

What about dentists that TREAT people with HIV. Surely the risk is identical. If a dentist refused to treat someone with HIV then I'm sure a lot of people would see it differently. Hep C is much more contagious and lives longer outside the body/ more easily transmitted by saliva. The risk of HIV is minimal in this instance and wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

I have two gay friends with HIV, one is super paranoid about his status in an air kissy kind of way. The other is happy to try my glass of wine/ share a cig (when I smoked) etc with me because I was aware he carried it and knew it couldn't be passed that way without open sores. He did find it amusing that I have him a wide berth when he had a cold sore however. Yuck!!!

I think being 'scared' of catching HIV is completely irrational.

It's very rare I have blood to blood contact or unprotected sex with anyone in my day to day life. In fact it's something I routinely avoid. Along with crossing the road with my eyes shut and licking batteries.

There are countless communicable diseases you can catch from the exchange of bodily fluids so surely it's something most of us avoid as a matter of course.

Anyway, best I take my own advice and hide this. I'll only raise my blood pressure and people rarely change a closed mind so it's completely pointless.

Completely depressing. I don't know why it was in the news.

Though any risk to the patients is practically non-existent, the patients themselves should have been informed and that's it. No way should this have been made public. The last thing we need is more scaremongering and hysteria surrounding HIV, making carriers into 'newsworthy' freakshows.

Worry doesn't have to be rational for it to be real

No it doesn't, but if you want to violate someone's medical privacy or stop them from exercising their profession your worry does have to be rational. Having uncontrollable irrational worries is one thing, acting on them or expecting others to accommodate them is another.

madratlady I didn't know I could ask him to/refuse to let him near me without gloves - I saw him aged 10-13 (very meek child) and he was "brusque" rude as fuck I've never been as happy to see someone leave.